Hybrid IT Jobs on the Rise

So you know technology. Great. Now go get yourself and MBA, because you need to know a little something about business, too, if you're going to work in IT these days. (That's where the "hybrid" comes from -- IT and business. Nothing to do with cars.)

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/12/20110 comments

Little Patch Tuesday

How slow is the news this week? Other than the departure of Bobby Mugs from Microsoft, the biggest news is...Patch Tuesday. Ugh.

Oh, well. Let's talk about Patch Tuesday, then. Microsoft issued...one critical fix and a few other smaller things. Wow, that's even boring by Patch Tuesday standards. Since we're all out of witty comments and the old carpal tunnel is starting to flare up a bit, we'll just leave things there. Happy patching.

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/12/20110 comments

Microsoft Execudus Continues as Muglia Leaves

Well, how's this for timing? Your editor is working on a story about Microsoft's recent executive departures (now known here as the Execudus), and this week one of the biggest names in Redmond is headed out the door.

This time, it's a big one. Bob Muglia -- whom we've always wanted to call Bobby Mugs but never have until now -- is headed out the door. And apparently it's at the request of one Mr. Steve Ballmer. For those who have lost track, Bobby Mugs is -- was, we suppose -- president of Microsoft's pretty darn successful Server & Tools Business. More

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/10/201114 comments

Bad News: IT Spending on the Way Up

Gartner says that IT spending will go up 5.1 percent year-over-year in 2011. But there is poop in this punch bowl -- according to Gartner, the increase is mainly down to the dollar's exchange rate and might not actually be good news at all.

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/10/20110 comments

Microsoft Wields AX 6

Microsoft has long undersold Dynamics in our considered opinion, so we're pleased to see Redmond talking up the ease of deployability of the new AX ERP suite.

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/10/20110 comments

A Hello to ARM for Microsoft

Yes, it's true. The next version of Windows will run on low-power ARM chips, some of which will be made by Intel -- and many of which won't. Mary Jo Foley, as always, has more details.

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/06/20110 comments

Redmond Loses UC Exec

Ashish Gupta is off to some company called Vidyo. Hey, Vidyo, run a spell check next time.

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/06/20110 comments

Google Reopens Microsoft's Department of Interior Win

So, this is how it's going to be in the cloud. Forget technology, innovation, service or anything else. It's going to be a legal battle.

At least that's what's shaping up right now in Microsoft's deal to provide the U.S. Department of the Interior with IT and cloud services. Actually, Google filed suit a while back, claiming that it didn't have a fair shot at the DOI contract. And, as it turns out, a court agreed...with Google. More

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/06/20112 comments

Office 2010 Upgrades Difficult

Maybe you knew this already, but Forrester says that upgrading to Office 2010 is full of potential disasters.

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/05/20112 comments

New Year, New Microsoft Flaws

Happy New Year to all from sunny Southern California, where your editor watched his TCU Horned Frogs win the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. There's no segue following that -- we just wanted to mention it. This might not be the last time, either. 

Anyway, with 2011 comes a new year as well as a new version of old news: Microsoft has security flaws. One of them is a bug in image rendering that affects older versions of Windows. The other is one of those sneaky things that Google revealed before Microsoft could patch it. More

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/05/20116 comments

Firefox Beating IE in Europe

At least that's what some researcher in Ireland says...

Posted by Lee Pender on 01/05/20110 comments

Oracle Releases Cloud Office Suite

Apparently Larry Ellison docked his sailboat for long enough to create an open-source, cloud-based (or on-premises...) office suite. Actually, it's mainly a result of the Sun acquisition (which Larry probably completed while manning the helm, or whatever sailors do), but nevertheless Oracle does have a competitor to Microsoft and Google now.

Posted by Lee Pender on 12/16/20103 comments